Fuel-feeding means for oil burners



Jan. 4 1927; 1,612,997

H 1.. WATSON ET AL FUEL FEEDING MEANS FOR OIL BURNERS Filed July 2, 1924 Inventors; liaroldfimirfison Patented Jan. 4, 1927.

UNITED. STATESPATENT OFFICE.

HAROLD L. WATSON AND ANDREW HELDBIGI'I, O13 IiEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AS-

SIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, "lO AMERICAN INCUBATOES, INQ, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, A COR-FORATION OF NEVI JERSEY.

FUEL-FEEDING lirIEANS FOR OIL BURNERS.

App1ieation filed July 2,

lVhile our invention is adapted for employment in numerous industrial applications it is especially suitable for use in connection with incubator and brooderheaters in which oil is employed as a fuel, and to enable those skilled in the art to comprehend and practise the invention we will therefore herein describe an embodiment of the same adapted for that purpose.

Oil heating means for incubators cus: tomarily comprise a supply tank for containing the oil, a burner of suitable type connected thereto by suitable piping and a boiler adapted to contain water and disposed to receive heat from the burner, the boiler being connected by outflow and return pipes with a radiator or radiators disposed in the incubator in such manner that the heated water may circulate therethrough.

It is an object of our invention to provide means of simple and efiicient character by which the height of the flame in the burner may be adjusted conveniently and accurately so as to control to a nicety the amount of heat generated by the burner; to provide means whereby the height of the burner flame may be maintained substantially constant at a predetermined point, and to pro vide means whereby momentary variations in the height of the flame such as might be caused by intermittent drafts or the like will be promptly compensated for so as to quickly return the flame to normal condition.

A further object of our invention is to provide means in the nature of a safety device or overflow of such character that should any flooding or excessive flow of oil from the supply tank take place, the surplus oil will be automatically and practically instantaneously drained away to a suitable rec :tacle or other point thus relieving the excess pressure which would, in the absence of such means, be induced at the burner with consequent increase in the height of the flame and also preventing the oil fromescaping from the apparatus onto the floor t consequent danger of fire.

. ihe foregoing, as well as other objects and novel Ieatures of construction and arrangement comprehended by our invention, will'be more fully apparent from the following description of a preferred form thereof 1924. Serial No. 423,645.

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which we have illustrated the same.

In the said drawing Fig. l is a front elevation of one form of our invention shown in association with a boiler and other parts of an incubator heater, a portion of the incubator itself being also shown. Fig. 2-is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 but with the burner and adjacent parts adjusted to a different position than in the former figure. In both of these figures a portion of the wall of the oil well has been broken away so to more readily disclose the arrangement of certain parts disposed in the well. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in central section through the oil well and also showing in elevation the oil tank filler pipe and adjacent parts including a portion of the tank in operative position, while Fig. 4 is a cen tral section of the filler cap removed from the filler pipe. The same symbols are used to designate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The incubator casing I as well as the boiler B disposed adjacent thereto may be of any desired construction, theboiler being connected by outflow and return pipes P, P

with a suitable radiator (not shown) disposed within the casing. The boiler may be provided with a central line F through which the products of combustion can ascend, the draft th erethrough being controlled by a movable damper D actuated in any suitable way, for example, by mechanism operated by the rise and fall of water in an expansion tank (not shown) which may be connected with the boi er by the expansion tank pipe P, thermometers T being vsuitably disposed to give visible indication of the temperature. It will be understood that the several parts to which general ref erence has just been made are of well known construction and in common use so that further and more specific reference thereto is unnecessary.

For containing the oil to be supplied to the burner we provide a supply tank 1 which is conveniently cylindrical in form and is supported on curved brackets 2, Qbolted to the side of the incubator casing in sucn manner that the tank may be readily removed and replaced When desired. To insure the tank being returned each time to the same relativ position on the brackets, the tank may be provided with a small locating stud 3 arranged to enter a hole in one of the brackets when the tank is properly positioned; this stud is also of utility in preventing any axial rotation or longitudinal displacement of the tank in the brackets. The tank is provided with a filler pipe 4 conveniently positioned near one end thereof and arranged to extend vertically downward and function as a supply pipe when the tank is in operative position on the brackets. The end of this pipe may conveniently be somewhat restricted and provided with external threads for the reception of a correspondingly internally threaded removable cap 5. This cap has a central opening controlled by a valve poppet 6 disposed on a plunger '7 which extends upwardly from the poppet through a guide 8 carried by the cap and is surrounded by a coil spring 9 arranged to urge the poppet in a direction to close the opening in the cap and thus prevent the passage of any oil therethrough save when the poppet is lifted from its seat. The plunger 7 is also extended below the poppet so as to project for a relatively considerable distance below the lower end of the cap for a pur pose to be hereinafter described.

The fuel tank is devoid of any other openings save that afforded by the tiller pipe and may be readily lifted from the brackets and then filled with oil by inverting the tank so that the filler pipe will extend upwardly and removing the cap; after the cap is replaced the tank may be turned to normal position and repositioned on the brackets without any oil leaking therefrom so long as the valve poppet is not forced away from its seat,

F or receiving the oil from the supply tank and maintaining a body thereof in position for supplying the burner as required, an oil well 10 is disposed beneath the tank in such position that the filler pipe can extend thereinto when the tank is in operative position on the brackets. This oil well, which may be made of sheet metal, is conveniently of cup-shaped circular form and may be provided with a cover or lid 11 partially cut away to provide a suitable opening 12 of sufiicient size to permit convenient introduction of the filler pipe into the well. From beneath the Well afeed pipe 13 leads to the burner 14-, the pipe being conveniently utilized to form a support for the well by bending the adjacent end 13 of the pipe substantially at right angles to the main portion thereof and soldering or otherwise securing the well thereupon, the end of the pipe being closed preferably with a removable cap, a small hole 15 drilled through the bottom of the well and wall of the pipe forming a port through which the oil may readily flow from the former into the latter.

The feed pipe also forms a support for the burner 1 the base of the latter being disposed on the pipe adjacent the opposite end thereof from the oil well and secured thereto in "any suitable way, the pipe at this point being suitably perforated so as to communicate with the oil receptacle of the burner to permit the oil to pass thereinto in the ordinary way,- preferably the pipe may be extended beyond the burner and then bent upward to terminate about in the plane of the top of the fuel tank. This permits the pipe to be readily cleared of any obstruction by forcibly blowing into the open end of the pipe and also prevents any possibility of the feed pipe becoming air bound.

The burner itse f may be of any suitable form and either of the wickless or of the wick type, the former being indicated in the drawing, and. as the precise form and construction of the burner form no part of the present invention detailed iilustration or description thereof is unnecessary. The burner, however, in accordance with the usual practice, may be provided with achimney 1% extending from the burner to the flue F beneath which the former is substantiaily centrally disposed.

Suitable means are provided for supportiug the feed pipe 13, which in turn supports the oil well and burner, in a mani to permit convenient vertical adjustment thereof, said means preferably comprising a verti ally extending adjusting rod 16 having its lower end threaded into a T 17 disposed in the feed pipe and its main portion slidably extended through the horizontally disposed lugs 18 and 19 formed atthe ends of a bracket 20 screwed to the incubator casing in an upright position. The upper end 16 of the adjusting rod may be threaded for the reception of an adjusting nut 21 which is disposed above the lug it) so as to rest thereon in such manner that by rotation of the nut the rod may be raised or lowered for a distance limited by the extent of the threaded portion thereof. As it is desirable, as will hereinafter more fully appear, to de initely determine the extent of movement which can be imparted to the rod, we may provide beneath the lug 18 a stop pin 22 which is driven through the rod so as to prevent it being raised save through a limited distance and in like manner we may provide another stop pin 23 above the nut 21 so as to limit the downward movement of the rod. Preferably this latter pin is made removable and may be attached to the casing by a chain or cord 23 so as to prevent its being lost when detached from the rod. For steadying the feed pipe and facilitating the vertical movement thereof when the rod 16 is moved up and down, we may provide a guide rod Ql havmg lts lower end secured to the pipe and its upper ex-' tended freely through a guide such as a screw-eye carried by the casing."

It will be understood that with the wickless type of burner the height of the flame is controlled solely by the pressure of the oil in the feed pipe; this is of course dependentupon the head or depth of oil in the oil well which is in turn determined by the distance at which the oil well is disposed beneath the end ofthe filler cap so long as the poppet valve therein is kept open by engagement of the lower end of the plunger 7 with the bottom of the oil well for under this condition the oil will feed into the well from the supply tank until it reaches the level of the end of the cap so as to seal the latter against the admission of air into the tank. In other words, so long as the valve is open and the end of the cap is above the level of the oil in the Well the oil will feed thereinto from the supply tank, but under normal conditions as soon as the oil in the well reaches the level of the lower end of the cap the fiow is automatically discontinued'while that level is maintained but recurs as soon as sufficient oil is withdrawn from the well to expose the end of the cap and permit the passage of additional air into the tank. Thus the position of the pins 22 and 23 willordinarily be so determined that when the latter is seated on the nut 21 the lower end of the plunger 7 will be either just in contact with the bottom of the well so that the oil can flow thereinto or else just out of contact therewith so that on a slight elevation of the feed pipe the valve will open to allow oil to flow into the well, while the lower pin 22 will be so disposed that when it is in contact with the lug 18 the lower end of the cap will be very close to the bottom of the well so that a very small depth of oil therein will be sufiicient to reach the cap and thus automatically cut off theflow from the tank. Preferably the position of this pin will'be so determined that under these conditions the depth of oil in the well will be just suiiicient to maintain a very low flame at the burner.

Under ordinary conditions and with the types of burners now in use it is requisite, if the burner is cold or relatively cold, to feed the oil thereto under greater pressure than when the burner is hot and in condition to fully vaporize the oil and it is thus desirable to have a maximum head of oil in the oil well for some time after the burner has been lighted and to gradually decrease the head as the burner heats up to normal operative temperature; consequently, to obtain this result, the feed pipe, oil well and burner will ordinarily be lowered for substantially the maximum amount after the burner-isfirst lighted and will be raised as the burnerat-- tains its normal operative heat so as to cut down the flame to the proper point, for if the maximum head of oil was permitted in the well after the burner had reached its full working temperature, the quantity of oil. feeding thereto would be in excess of the requirements of the burner with consequent production of a yellow flame and incomplete combustion and smoking. It will be apparent therefore that by suitable manipulation of the adjusting nut 21 the relative height of the oil well with respect to the fuel tank may be so adjusted as to produce a relatively great depth or head of oil'in the well as shown in Fig. l (where the surface of the oil is indicated at L) or a relatively smallv depth or head of oil therein as shown'in Fig. 2 .(where the surface of the oil-is indicated at L) or any desired depth or head between these two extremes. i

Under normal conditions and so long as level of the oil reaches the level of the cap as has hitherto been explained so there is practically no danger of any overflow of 011 occurring from the Well. Should, however, the supply tank be improperly posi' tioned on its support or too much oil be transferred from the supply tank to the oil well while placing the tank in position whichmay ha Jpen should the pin 23w not be in positio1ror should the supply tank be defective and develop an air leak or be accidentally knocked out of position, or should, for any other reason, the feed of the oil continue after the level in the oil well reaches the level of the cap, the oil, in the absence of the means now to be described,-might overflow and. run down onto the floor with consequent danger of fire. To prevent this result and to insure the immediate draining from the oil well of any excess"accumulation of oil therein before a sufficient quantity can accumulate to overflow therefrom or from the burner, we provide an overflow or drain tube in the form of an inverted U-shaped' tube having legs of unequal length and dispose the same in such manner that the longer leg 30 will extend below the bot-tom of the oil well and the shorter leg 20 will be disposed within the well and terminate at a distance above the bottom thereof equal to the height of the minimum oil level L. Conveniently the U-shaped portion of the drain tube may be entirely disposed-within the well and is of such length that the bent portion of the tube will lie' substantially in the plane of the maximum oil level L, the

from the burner or the oil well longer leg of the tube being continued vertically downward through the bottom of the well. However, if desired, the longer leg of the tube may be disposed outside of the vertical wall of the well and the inner leg inside thereof, the curved portion of the tube then passing through the wall of the well at the proper height.

For the purpose of receiving any oil which may be drained from the well by the drain tube 30, as hereinafter described, we prefer to provide a drain or safety tank 32 preferably having similar capacity to the fuel tank 1; this safety tank may be supported in any convenient position as, for example, beneath the supply tank and by means of the same brackets 2, 2 which for this purpose are extended downwardly and then curved upwardly as at 2, 2 so as to form a cradle for the reception of the tank from which it may be readily lifted when desired. The safety tank is preferably closed save for a small opening 33 through which the lower end of the leg 30 of the drain tube may be directed into the tank and may also be provided with a drain cook 34 if desired. Of course the particular form and construction of the safety tank is immaterial although it is desirable that the capacity of the same be at least equal to that of the supply tank.

With the parts arranged in the manner just described it will be apparent that so long as the oil level in the oil well remains between the maximum and minimum normal levels L, L a corresponding level will be maintained in the shorter leg 30 of the tube and no oil will be drained from the well by the tube but should, for any reason, the depth of oil in the well increase beyond the normal maximum level L, the drain tube will immediately automatically function as a siphon to withdraw oil from the well and deliver it into the safety tank. As the tube is preferably made of sufficient size to withdraw the oil from the well more rapidly than it can feed thereinto past the poppet valve 6 irrespective of the amount of opening of the latter, it will be evident that the drain tube is always effective to automatically siphon the oil from the well more rapidly than it can be fed thereinto so that even if the condition by which the excessive oil feed from the supply tank was induced is not promptly remedied, the drain tube will continue to function until the supply tank has been emptied of oil thus positively and automatically eliminating any danger of the overflowing of the oil either from the oil well or from the burner. Moreover, it will be further evident that once the drain tube begins to function it will continue so to do, irrespective of the relative vertical adjustment of the oil well, until the level of the oil in the well has been reduced to substantially the minimum normal level L when, the

such momentary increase to almost immediately reduce the oil level to the minimum L is of great advantage since by this action the oil pressure on the smoking and flaring burner is promptly reduced to a point which is generally somewhat below the normal burning pressure or level so that a very prompt reduction in the flame is thereby brought about after which, as the burner recovers itself and returns toward a normal condition, the oil level in the well also simultaneously returns to the level predeter mined by the adjusted height of the burner and the well.

It will'be obvious that the results to which reference has just been made could not be obtained by merely providingthe well with an outlet or overflow pipe disposed at a fixed point such, for example, as the level L, for while such an outlet might be operative to prevent overflow of oil should the depth of the oil in the well at any time attain the level in the pipe, it could never operate to reduce the head of oil in the tank to the minimum level L and could not thus automatically prevent the flaring and smoking of the burner which occurs if the maximum level of oil is main tained in the well when the requirements of the burner for proper operation are less than the feed to the burner induced by that head.

It will be understood that while, as hitherto stated, our invention is particularly adapted for employment in connection with oil burners for incubators, brooders and the like, its use is in no manner confined thereto as it may be employed with equal facility in connection with burners intended for fur-- nishing heat for other purposes and, additionally, that although we have herein described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of our invention with considerable particularity we do not thereby desire or intend to in any manner limit ourselves to any precise details of construction and arrangement of the various parts as the same are capable of modification in various particulars from the precise embodiments disclosed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A device of the class described comprising the well and the burner, means for raising and lowering the well so as to regulate the amount of oil contained therein and consequent oil pressure on the burner, and

means for automatically reducing the oil in the well to a predetermined level should the oil exceed a certain maximum depth in the well.

A device of the class described comprising an oil supply tank, a burner, an oil well disposed adjacent the tank and adapted to receive oil therefrom, a feed pipe connecting the well and the burner, means for rais ing and lowering the well so as to regulate to a predetermined point between maximum and minimum limits the oil level normally maintained in the well, and means operative, irrespective of the vertically adjusted height of the well, to automatically reduce the oil level to substantially said minimum limit following an increase in the oil level in the well to a point above said maximum limit.

3. A device of the class described comprising an oil supply tank, a. burner, an oil well disposed adjacent the tank and adapted to receive oil therefrom, a feed pipe connecting the Well and the burner, means for raising and lowering the well so as to maintain a normal oil level therein at any predetermined point between maximum and minimum limits, and means comprising an inverted U-shaped tube communicating with the well and adapted, irrespective of the height of the normal level of the oil, to automatically reduce the level substantially to the minimum following an increase in the level to a point above the maximum.

4:- A device of the class described comprising an operatively fixed oil supply tank hav ing a downwardly extending pipe and a valve disposed at the end thereof, an oil well, a burner, a feed pipe connecting the oil well and the burner, means for raising and lowering the well, feed pipe and burner as a unit. said well being cooperative with the valve to maintain the latter in open position within the limits of movement afforded by said raising and lowering means so that oil can flow into the well until a predetermined level is attained therein, and a tube carried by the well and operative by siphonic action to partially drain the well upon a predetermined increase of the oil level therein, and means for receiving oil so drained from the Well.

A device of the class described comprisan oil supply tank, a burner, an oil well as; pted to receive oil from the tank, a feed pipe connecting the well and the burner, means for raising and lowering the Well with respect to the tank, a drain tank, and an in: verted U-shaped tube communicating with the interior of the well and operative to partially drain the well of oil upon the attainme it of a predetermined oil level therein and to deliver the oil so drained into said drain tank.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 27 day of June, 1924.

HAROLD L. WVATSON. ANDREW HELDRICH. 

